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What vitamins and or herbs can I give my shih tzu puppy for dry eyes. Born June 12th and has had surgery(graft) on one eye already.the eye specialist said his problems are the result of dry eye. He is getting drops in his eye that was operated on and the other eye a total of 13 times a day, from 7 am to 10 pm. The specialist said there are no herbs and /or vitamins to help him. He is so young, there must be something I can do to help him.

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If you would like to find a holistic vet to work with this site may help you
www.ahvma.org
I strongly discourage you from trying stuff based only on net advice when it comes to eye care.
The specialist may feel there is no treatment other than what he or she proposes but you may be able to also work with a holistic veterinarian who can help you, if there is help, in that direction with safe meds or supplements to try.
There are not any simple solutions to this issue but if it comes to it a blind dog can get along quite well as a pet.
See http://www.blinddog.info/ for information
Hope this helps you!

Edited by NHolmes on September 6 2005 at 5:58 PM

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Reply to Nancy Holmes's Post: I have nine dogs at this point, and they are all rescues. The vet wanted to amputate the toy poodles front leg. He was only 6 months old. With vitamins, good diet and excercise, you would never know he even haad a problem. I recently lost a shih tzu that was almost 20 years old and the last two, he was completely blind. I know handicaps are workable, but this little one is only 12 weeks old with a major problem already.
I spend from 7am to 10 pm caring for him. He is getting drops just about every hour on the hour. I am and will continue to care for him. There are vitamins to help humans with dry eye, so there must be something for dogs. I have used vitamin e to help with cateracts.

There are not vitamins to help people with dry eye that I've ever heard of (and I looked when I had a dog with the problem). There are medications which are quite pricey and drops and ointments to use to lubricate the eye.
I think you need to be working with a holistic vet if you want to try experiments on this pup in your care. To understand proper dosage to be sure you do not do any chemical intereactions that could permanently blind the dog then I think you need to work with someone trained in using the medicines not just someone who wants to sell you stuff. This site does a good job of covering treatment options
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_kcs__dry_eye_.html
this site talks about doing a transfer of saliva via surgery from the cheek gland to the eye
http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/petcolumns/showarticle.cfm?id=463
But if there were a miracle drug or vitamin that would help then people would know about it too and be using it.
**
I tell you what though - we do have a holistic vet on here let me PM your question location to her and ask for some help for you. It will hurt me as my accepts will go down but if that is what you want and what I think you need then that is what needs to happen!
So don't give up I'll PM Andrea and ask for her help for you! She's quite good and may have supplement ideas for you that would be safe with what you are already doing!

Edited by NHolmes on September 6 2005 at 10:32 PM

Please press Accept if you find my answer helpful. Want more info? Just reply on your question!
Bonuses for good work are always appreciated!
Thanks for the opportunity to help you!

For dry eye, there are some vitamin and herbal medications that have helped some, but most times some topical treatment may be needed but in reduced amounts.
Antioxidants can help, including Vit A, E, C, selenium; zinc and copper; essential fatty acids as found in flax, borage and primrose oil; CoQ10 has helped glands of secretion like the lacrimal glands. Some preparation available are:
Clinical Nutrients Eye Formula by Phytopharmica
Small Animal Antioxidant by Thorne Research
In Chinese medicine, the eyes are associated with the Liver, and the Liver with Blood, so a dry eye problem would indicate Blood /Liver Yin deficiency. There are Chinese herbal formulas to address Liver and Blood deficiency. TCM is very different from Western medicine so it would be essential that you consult a vet that has studied Traditional Chinese Medicine if you would like to explore that route.
Acupuncture has been successful in some cases in increasing tear production. The vet practicing TCM will undoubtedly do acupuncture also.
For conventional medicine, cyclosporine has been used in people and animals. Is that what you are using now?

Edited by harmonyvet on September 7 2005 at 2:53 AM

Holistic Wellness Care

He is getting Ofloxacin Ophthalmic solution 5 times a day in the eye that was operated on and the following in both eyes:
Tobramycin Solution - 3 X
Flurbiprofen .03% - 2x
Lacrimor Solution - 3X
Baytril 20 - 1/2 tab 1X
Acccording to the doctor, Lacrimor solution is much better than cyclosporine and they no longer use cyclosporine.My research on human dry eye came from"Prescription for Nutritional Healing Third adition, Phyllis A. Balch, CNC & James F. Balch, MD.Do you have any idea on the amounts to include in his food? He is almost 5 pounds now.
May sound crazy, but have treated mange with milk of magnesia..Went the traditional route before of Clavomox and an old breeder told me about the milk of magnesia and clear an on set in 5 days.

Reply to Nancy Holmes's Post: Again thank you. I have tried to hit accept, but it keeps coming up for payment to Nancy Holmes!

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